The Shadow (The Rocky Road To Dublin)
By James Stephens
Silence comes upon the night,
Gone is all the cheerful day,
The moon has disappeared from sight,
Every star has gone away.
Sinking through the void, and thence
Disappearing, star and sky,
In the stern and black immense
That has blinded every eye.
Silence crouches on the land,
In the street a shadow lies
Cloaked in velvet wrappings, and
With a mask upon her eyes.
Anonymous and terrible
Mother of the primal ray,
Only night because thou art
In thyself excess of day.